Insights
TACKLING THE £1,000,000 FREEPLAY6
TACKLING THE £1,000,000 FREEPLAY6. All Premier League action for this week’s FreePlay6 with some cracking games as always to what the appetite.
Make sure you take advantage of our FreePlay service before playing your normal lines.
You’ll get one free pick and you could win a million! If you want to be in with a chance of winning the lottery sized £2m jackpot with your paid lines, remember that you must stake a minimum of £2.
Good luck!
Chelsea v Everton
The Blues are unbeaten in five games since Jose Mourinho’s departure.
Whether the party line is that the players were always right behind their manager, the results speak volumes.
On the face of it it’s a quite unpalatable situation. Not just for the ex-manager either.
How about the thousands of Chelsea fans that have paid good money to see their side in action, dismiss the run as just pure bad luck, and then find that it was a ruse all along.
No point in denying the blindingly obvious.
In any event, the unbeaten run has brought confidence back into the line up with the possible exception of a truly off colour Eden Hazard.
The Player of the Year last season is a million miles away from that in this campaign.
Guus Hiddink’s side will enjoy the visit of Everton.
The style in which Roberto Martinez has his troops playing is hugely pleasing on the eye but it does give the opposition space in which to exploit throughout.
Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku will keep Chelsea’s back line occupied for the most part and John Stones will be doing his level best to keep his potential new employers at bay at the other end.
The impeccable youngster can rarely be blamed for his team’s losses, his colleagues at the back not quite up to his level at this point.
It’s for that reason that I’m taking a 2-1 home win and more good vibes around Stamford Bridge. Jose who?
Newcastle v West Ham
The Magpies are far too big a club to go down. Or so they say.
If Steve McLaren’s side can’t start to pick up points the second half of the season is going to be very long and painful indeed.
The ex-England manager would do well to replay the video of their nightmare performance at Upton Park earlier in the season. If the players can’t respond to that then they deserve to drop into the Championship quite frankly.
It’s all too easy to blame Mike Ashley and the board for the clubs’ ills. Money has been made available but hasn’t been spent wisely and this most magnificent of clubs continue to have a team that underperforms on a weekly basis.
Compare them to a resurgent West Ham. In monetary terms, they’ve not shopped in the same ballpark as their hosts for a while now, yet their purchases have been sound and complimentary to what the Hammers already had in site.
Moreover, the east Londoners now have a strength in depth denied them to this point. Something that can’t be said for Newcastle.
There are rumours that Hammers front man Andy Carroll could be on his way back to Tyneside in this window and whether or not that’s the case, he’ll be doing his utmost to continue his current sides’ push for a European place.
Fortunately for McLaren et al, West Ham rarely travel well to this part of the world.
Just one win in the last 14 years at St. James’ Park will mean an uphill struggle for Slaven Bilic and his side.
The Croatian will ensure that his side is competitive but it won’t be enough on this occasion and a much needed three points will stay on Tyneside.
1-0 for your coupon.
Aston Villa v Leicester
If Arsenal fail to win in the Potteries then there is some certainty to Leicester being new Premier League leaders after this particular round of matches.
We are in the middle of January and Aston Villa still haven’t reached double figures in points terms and the atmosphere at the club is as toxic as it’s ever been.
Players and manager needing an armed police guard to get to their coach after an FA Cup tie hints at the problems that Remi Garde, his captain Micah Richards and others have at this point.
Already 11 points from safety the Villains are as good as down and they’re playing like it too.
Rarely has there been a team with such little enthusiasm for the task at hand. For some while now the hosts have been playing as though they’re beaten not long after the whistle has gone for the start.
Midland neighbours Leicester won’t take any prisoners here. The Foxes are at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as enjoying football goes. Claudio Ranieri’s side aren’t just winning games, they’re having a great time doing it.
That kind of confidence is infectious and shows no signs of letting up at this point.
The few home supporters that bother to turn up will have left long before the final whistle because this will get embarrassing.
The visitors to wreak constant havoc in an AOA win.
Well done if you’ve reached the halfway stage with all of your money intact. If you’re not feeling as confident as you were then consider our Partial Cash-Out at this point. You can bank a portion of your ticket in return for some funds, and play on with the rest.
Yes, that’s right. Play your cards right and you can still win from an overall losing bet.
Liverpool v Man Utd
The game of the weekend without a shadow of a doubt even though both sides are a shadow of their former selves.
In the last 10 games that Manchester United have played, Louis Van Gaal’s side have failed to score in the first half. A 90th minute penalty was all that the Red Devils had to show for an FA Cup win over Sheffield United as if to underline their their current malaise.
The Dutchman talks about having a “philosophy” an awful lot but when pressed on the same doesn’t really seem to know how to expand upon his phraseology.
Clearly his players are not buying into his methods and that must be a concern to a club.
Jurgen Klopp needs time to get things right at Anfield and his results have been good and bad often in equal measure.
But this isn’t the German’s team and he should be judged in a year or two when he has harnessed exactly the side he requires.
At this point, injuries threaten to curtail any good work that Liverpool are doing. Any more and a heavy investment into the transfer market will be required.
Christian Benteke needs to find some decent scoring form to justify his enormous price tag and he’ll be forgiven all of his shortcomings if he’s able to find the net here.
Unlike games between these two in the past, this will be a cagey affair and a draw, in the end, will probably suit both teams.
1-1 is my selection.
Stoke v Arsenal
There was a time when this fixture would be labelled as one between a team that loves to enhance the beautiful game against one who’d prefer to kick lumps out of you.
However unfair the latter description was on Stoke, it’s fair to suggest that they employed the darker arts on more regular occasions than their north London counterparts.
Not the case any longer however.
Mark Hughes has dragged the Potters kicking and screaming into the 21st century and playing a brand of football that Arsene Wenger would be proud of.
The triple threat up front of Bojan Krkic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marco Arnautovic has been more than most teams can handle at the Britannia Stadium, including high-flying Manchester City.
If Arsenal want to be considered as genuine title contenders then these are the games where they must dig in and get the points.
At a ground where they’ve often struggled in the past, nothing would give Wenger greater pleasure than to see his charges continue their recent good run of form and take the three points.
It is sure to remain one of their most difficult assignments of the season, but that little extra bit of quality that has authored many of their performances during this campaign will just be enough to see them home.
Take 1-2 for your coupon.
Swansea v Watford
The final game of this week’s six takes place at the Liberty Stadium.
Swansea took the brave decision to hand Alan Curtis the managerial reins until the end of the season, allowing themselves time to decide how best to proceed given their recent sacking of Garry Monk.
Curtis won’t have endeared himself to the hierarchy after bowing out of the FA Cup to Oxford United, one of the biggest shocks of third round weekend.
It was another bump in a very rocky road of a season and one that is in danger of turning into a disaster for the Welshmen.
Should Newcastle get a win at home to West Ham then the Swans have to mirror the Magpies result in order to stay out of the bottom three.
For a team that has always prided itself on playing such good football, this particular period must be akin to a mini hell on earth for them. Whatever they’re trying just isn’t working.
An expected transfer of midfield general Jonjo Shelvey to Newcastle can’t be helping matters in the dressing room either.
By contrast, Quique Sanchez Flores’ Watford side are going above and beyond expectations thanks in no small part to Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo.
Sitting comfortably in ninth position, the Hornets are just four points behind Man Utd in fifth and have scored one more goal than them.
A tough game in prospect for both teams but the confidence of the away side will see them through in the end.
A slender 0-1 victory to take back to Vicarage Road.
